A Collected Christmas Tree

Happy Monday after Thanksgiving!! It seems the whole world has magically turned to Christmas, we even got snow here in Utah. I spent the weekend doing a little more Christmas decorating, I actually almost finished all of my shopping (it’s a Christmas miracle), and now I’m trying to fight off my first winter cold (boo!). I’m so excited today to bring you Part II (you can find Part 1 here) of the four part Christmas Series hosted by Ashley of Cherished Bliss. And today, is all about my favorite part of Christmas: the Tree–I actually put up three of them this year…and counting. If you’re coming over from Little Glass Jar, welcome! Isn’t Ashley’s tree fabulous?!! I love her rustic touches!When I was growing up, my mom and about 15 of her friends had an Ornament Party every year. They each made 15 of the same ornaments, then got together the week after Thanksgiving and had a party and an ornament exchange. I remember anxiously waiting for her to come home from the party each year and sort through the new treasures, and then we would always add them to the tree. So, our tree always fell in the “eclectic” category. Lots of handmade ornaments my mom made in her early years of marriage, handmade ornaments from friends, ornaments that we kids had made, other little sentimental treasures, ones from the Avon catalog that were too cute for my mom to pass up (remember those?), things like that. It was always a “collected” tree, and almost everything on it held some sort of memory. So that’s how my trees have tended to go over the years, collected and sentimental. My upstairs tree (which I’ll be sharing tomorrow), is a little bit more coordinated and fancy this year,so this tree, in our basement family room, is the fun, collected, tree full of the handmade, the sentimental, and the things that just make me happy.

We’ve had the same little tree since we got married and this year when I pulled it out, it was just SAD. So I bought a new, super inexpensive flocked one at Walmart ($70) and I’m IN LOVE!!!! I’ve said it already and I’ll say it a million more times, FLOCKED IS MY JAM!!! I love how things just sort of tuck between the beautiful, snowy branches!! Also, if you’re looking for an inexpensive tree, the flocked is a great option because it disguises those fake, silky branches.

And let’s talk about tree skirts for a minute. Why are they SOOOO freaking expensive?!!! I just can’t bring myself to buy one. One of my favorite alternatives: blankets and quilts. Just wrap them around the bottom of the tree, do a little fluffing, and voila, instant tree skirt. I used an old quilt that I had.

I kicked off the tree decorating with the big, fluffy pom pom garland that I made last year (still my favorite of all time), and then just started pulling out a mix of some of my favorite new ornaments (the shiny gems, little glass balls, and then added some of the sentimental stuff. The little clothespin Santa (which also has a Mrs. Claus attached) is from one of my mom’s ornament parties years and years ago, and the white stars were a happy accident from several years ago. A few more of my favorites: ballet slippers from the first year my husband and I ever saw the Nutcracker (a Christmas Eve tradition of mine growing up), a yarn star made by a special friend, and an ornament that is NEVER absent from my tree: a sweet photo of my mom that a good family friend made for their Ornament party the year that my mom passed away (she made an extra for all of my mom’s kids). And, of course, the best ornaments of all: the ones made by those little hands. Really, how cute is this idea though that her Kindergarten teacher had the kids make last year? Popsicle stick and feather snowflakes?! You’ll notice some more “coordinated” ornaments scattered around, which is my favorite way to pull an eclectic tree together. I used dollar store icicles and red balls, and then the gems and smaller glass balls, that I mentioned earlier, are from Target last year.

I’ll be sharing the rest of this room next week as part of my full Christmas Home tour, and tomorrow, I’ll be sharing my more formal, upstairs tree. Thank you SOOOO much for taking the time to stop by, and be sure to stop by and be sure to stop by and check out all of the beautiful trees on today’s tour (the list is below)!!

Comments

Your collected tree is the best! A memory with every collected ornament you hang. Being teachers, my husband and I were able to make three cross country camping trips with our two children when they were growing up. We would buy Christmas ornaments from the National Parks and other sites we visited. As we hang each of those ornaments, we remember our trips and adventures! Other ornaments remind us of the friends who made them; family who gave them; our pets; and the list goes on. The one of a kind, collected ornaments trees are the best! Looking forward to the rest of your tour.

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